November 2011

where i'll be next!

causes

pilgrimage of discovery and creativityi create worship/prayer experiences and i love to design these for churches, retreats, etc. i also lead retreats and workshops on experiential worship and sabbath.
find out more here!

blogging friends

Bob CarltonMilky Way Galaxy/Third planet/ Northern hemisphere/ Western continent North America/ United States/Left Coast/ The Great State of California/ Bay Area San Carlos/ Roslyn Avenue/ brown house/ blue jeans, waving

November 30, 2011

some of us are just recovering from thanksgiving, unpacking suitcases or putting away extra dishes, while others are already decorated with the tree up and cookies baking...

i appreciate that we have over a month to prepare room for king jesus. and i'm giving myself permission to go slowly into the season of advent.

regardless of what the tv says...i don't have to scream and run to the UPS store.

and we really don't have to yell and run frantically to Target

by choosing to celebrate advent, we actually have the gift of preparing the way...step by step, little by little, getting ready to receive the baby born in bethlehem.

yesterday, while i was unpacking my suitcase and doing laundry and dishes, i started listening to my holiday playlist from last year, discovering that i have 8 different versions of "o come o come emmanuel" and i began reading my advent devotional (actually, thanks to good friends, i have a couple to choose from)

today, i'm heading into napa for an eye appointment, but that gives me a chance to find garland and poinsettias to begin some decorating. and i'm listening to an old favorite by michael card " the promise" to remind me that it's really about preparing for jesus, not just shopping for decorations and gifts.

and today, i need that reminder...i need to remember that our God IS WITH US!

and if God is with us, then who can stand against ? our God is with us EMMANUEL!

November 07, 2011

In honor of All-Saints Day last week and in anticipation of thanksgiving in just a few...create a prayer tree for your worship gathering and/or your family.

As an All-Saints prayer station: focus the station on the people who have encouraged our faith or the people who have inspired us to draw closer to Jesus

SIGN/Directions: hebrews 12:1-8 FAMILY TREE

Consider all the people who have encouraged you to seek Jesus. Think about the people in your life, family, friends, teachers, youth leaders, etc who have helped you along the way in your journey with jesus ) or along your faith journey)These people might even be ones you've read about in books.

WRITE their names on the tags and pray for them. Thank God for their lives and ask God to show you more of how they have impacted your life. TIE THE TAG ON THE TREE

Part 2...Now think of someone in your life who needs to know the love of God...who may need encouragement on his/her journey with Jesus. Write that person's name on a tag and take it home with you. Hang it somewhere where you will be reminded to pray for that person. Ask God to help you inspire and encouage this person to know God better and ask God to help you to inspire others around you in the coming weeks.

SET UP:

in this photo we used an artificial ficus tree that was already in the worshp space, and added white twinkle lights. we had a basket of sharpie markers of various colors and mailing tags from office depot/staples that already have string in them to use to tie them on the branches. OR

you can create a tree with a few large branches (with out leaves) stuck securely in a bucket and make tags out of colorful index cards or even print off various shaped leaves, punch a hole in the top and add some yarn...then these card tags or leaves can be

THANKSGIVING TREE: Philippians 4:6-7

Continue the prayer tree idea ...you can take off the names of the" saints" or you can add to the tags on the tree.if you used only one color of tags for the SAINTS tree, you might use a different color for the thanksgiving tags.

SIGN/directions

Thanksgiving is a lost holiday in our culture...it sadly gets lost between halloween candy and christmas decoations and shopping. Yet we are called to give thanks as Jesus gave thanks.

So what are you thankful for today? What are some great things or some little things that you can see as gifts of God and thank him for today?

Write your prayers on the tag and hang them on the tree. THANK GOD for the things he has given you and ask God to give you eyes to see the blessings and gifts he is giving you each week. and Ask God to help you be more grateful in the days ahead.

The Thanksgiving tree can be added to each day if you are doing it at home, or each time you meet if you are creating it with your small group or worshipping community.

you can also encourage people to write down what they are thankful for during the week and bring this to your worship gathering to add to the tree.

ADVENT...tomorrow..

you'll need chrsitmas gift tags and a christmas tree.

if you'd like more ideas for creating thankful prayers with small children at church or in your family, check out this great site

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. JOHN 15

Living on a Vineyard is a constant reminder of all the times vineyards are referred to in the Bible. Producing grapes takes a lot of time and a lot of energy, not to mention the right weather conditions. The hours that the workers spend pruning and tending the vines, and also the soil around the vines, makes me wonder how we ever get a bottle of wine for less than 200 dollars. Jesus says that He is the vine and we are the branches….proves to me just how strong His hold is on us is. According to real life, we actually need help to let go. Vines don’t just fall off on their own…they have to be cut off. The workers, “the monks” as I call them because they all begin their days in hoodies with their hoods up, go through the vineyard and cut away the extra growth in order for the vines to produce better fruit. I’ve also learned that it takes a pair of shears to actually remove a bunch of grapes from the vine. You cannot just pull off an entire bunch…a few grapes are easy …just to sample, but in order to take off an entire bunch, this requires a tool.

This got me thinking about being attached to the vine…

About bearing fruit.

And about how much I complain about the work it takes to bear fruit,

and how much whining I do when the Winemaker is actually doing some pruning.

So abiding in the vine…Jesus really holds on to us tightly…and also the fruit is connected strongly to the vine…and just how much fruit depends upon the actual pruning of the vine. The folks here in Napa Valley take their pruning very seriously…so that the fruit is just right. The monks will come through and take off extra leaves from the vines so the sun hits the fruit just right. They even have a way now, to digitally gage just how much sap is flowing in the vines so that they will know when the vines need irrigation. They will also go through and actually cut away good fruit, or at least it looks really good to me, in order to have better fruit, the best most perfect grapes.

And there really is a cutting away of the old branches called canes. The monks come through and cut off all the canes, the branches, before the new growth begins. These piles of canes sit there for a few weeks in bunches, drying out and waiting til the monks return. When they come back in the early spring, they make bigger piles of branches and then they burn them. During this season you can see smoke throughout the Valley as this is happening in vineyards up and down Highway 29 and beyond. This year, on the vineyard where we live, the burning just happened to take place on Shrove Tuesday. So I had a front row seat in parable form ready for Ash Wednesday the next day. Large piles of smoking ashes burned from the cut away, useless branches of the grape vines…and I walked the dog through these ashes during most of Lent.

The grapes in our vineyard are all harvested, they are sorted and now are in large vats with good yeast, starting the long process of becoming wine. The vines around our house still have leaves, starting to fade from green to yellow and waiting for the winter rains and winds to begin to free them from their vines. The monks will come back to check on them and to start the process all over again, in the hope that the new growth, the new vines, will produce even better fruit in the coming year.

October 29, 2011

Ok, Halloween is upon us and whether or not you choose to embrace Halloween as a holiday or event, you can still use all that great Halloween candy as a part of your youth group or personal prayer time. And post Halloween is a great time to buy up candy to use for future prayer experiences. I use sour skittles and m&ms for end of year prayers (future post…thanking God for the sweet and sour for the past year) and tootsie roll pops for advent prayers.( are we willing to wait on God to get to the good stuff of Christmas) Also Hershey treasures are great reminders that God came to earth as a baby as our treasure, but even better God searches for each of us because we are HIS treasure. And don't forget that candy corn is in three colors so you can talk about the trinity..Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Remember that younger students are much more concrete in their thinking and this probably works better with high school and beyond, but don’t be afraid to try it with younger students just give them more examples and guidance of what you are going for since they don’t all think in metaphor/comparisons just yet.

THESE prayers can be done with a group as a corporate prayer or as an individual prayer stations.

***These are just some ideas …see what they might spark in you and feel free to morph and change them. I’d love to hear about how you use these.

HALLOWEEN CANDY PRAYERS

PRAYER 1

Have a bowl of mixed halloween candy, at least one piece for each participant.

Maybe you’ve felt like an empty box of chocolates rather than a full box…

Maybe you've felt like a gross piece of chocolate/candy yourself. Talk to JESUS about this.

How does God really feel about you?

YOU ARE NOT GROSS you are fearfully and wonderfully made. and God knew you before you were born.

When you see a candy box, and candy bars in the store, Let them remind you that God is filling your life with GOOD THINGS. Let the Candy box remind you that God is at work in your life. know that God is working and filling your life with his love…YOU are not empty, you are not a rotten, gross piece of chocolate.

October 28, 2011

i have always been interested in the wright brothers. i guess having a dad who is a pilot, and who is also named wilbur helps. i have also spent several vacations at the outer banks in north carolina and walked the air strip at kitty hawk where the orville and wilbur made their famous flight.
two brothers who built and repaired bicycles back in ohio decided that it was possible to do what had yet to be done.
they had a very big dream
they went to great lengths to do that dream...
when you think about what it took just to get from ohio to the outer banks and get all the gear necessary to build the gliders and the planes.
no cell phones, no internet, no computers
just wood and canvas, letters, weather and wind reports, and telegrams to ultimately tell the tale.

found this quote on a card today and it got me thinking about our ability to get stuck. too often we really don't believe we can.
instead we too often say "i can't "...
i don't have the money
i don't have the time
i don't have the degree

orville wright didn't have a pilot's license.

we need to give ourselves permission to do our dreams
to create the things we've been dreaming about
to go and do the adventures we have been dreaming of
to start the big thing we think about every day when we are bored at work...
we need to give ourselves permission
we need to live into that freedom that nothing is impossible...especially with GOD
and we need to remember that orville wright didn't have, or even need, a pilot's license.
so let's go change the world!

October 05, 2011

if you didn't see this yesterday, check it out...reminds me of the old tony campolo ...people are more upset by the use of a cuss word than by the fact that people are starving to death...go to ONE campaign and sign the petition...i know, i know...congress is stuck in the mud...but every voice matters...

for me, beyond clicking on a link, or sending money, i'm using october to become more aware of how i view food...

i live in the land of food and wine, truly a land flowing with milk and honey. it seems everyone here is involved in some form of growing, producing, selling, cooking, etc food and wine.

i also live in one of the wealthiest parts of the nation, if not the world...the cars that drive down highway 29 daily prove my point...

so i'm learning to look and see and to be aware of all of this and how it affects me.

the blessings and the curses of the plenty

the blessings and the curses of being surrounded by food

i'm practicing living into the blessing and being grateful

and attempting, and still failing at, not over buying at the market, not wasting food that i buy

realizing that so many people go hungry every night and so many people are struggling in MY town and in OUR country just to put food on the table.

then do your own search of how you might help out in your neighborhood ...in napa valley there is a campaign 10-10-10...give 10 dollars to your local food bank, donate ten healthy food items to your local food bank, and then invite (facebook/twitter/email) at least 10 friends to join you!

World Vision reminds us that " More than 24,000 children die everyday — most from preventable causes such as hunger, malaria, diarrhea, measles, and pneumonia."

check out World Visionhow you might help globally with the current food crisis in africa. and as we make lunch, dinner or reservations...let's be grateful for the people who grew the food, for the people/person who fixed the food, and for the fact that we have food at all.

October 02, 2011

Didn't make my October 1 deadline to begin again, AGAIN with my blog...but that was only due to lack of internet access in the sanctuary space yesterday and staying too long at the theology pub last night. So after much procrastination and the encouragement of lots of friends, i'm committing to writing again at lilly's pad and beyond. i've had amazing feedback from people this year about SACRED SPACE (the book ) and about the experiential stations of the cross we use in the Sanctuary here at NYWC. people are hungry for ideas for experiential learning and My passion is to help people connect with God through all their senses and using all their gifts and to honor art and artists in the church. i used the one of my favorite sayings in my Art in Worship workshop yesterday..."why do little kids get to have all the fun in church?"...meaning, why is it that when you are in kindergarden and below, you get to have crayons in church and get up and move around and after about 3rd grade you are required to just sit and listen? As a worship curator it's my desire to expand the horizons of worship way beyond our small definitions of preaching and singing and to show people that our CREATOR has blessed each one of us with creativity and gifts that are designed to give Him honor and glory. so thanks david for the kick and for holding me accountable. here's to the NEW YEAR of writing.

first worship workshop in the sanctuary space this convention was called "encountering God" i based it on the thinplace design we used for worship the last three years in cincinnati. the thinplace model involves opening by praying a psalm out loud together, listening to a gospel passage read outloud (three times with three different voices) allowing the holy spirit to highlight words and phrases and ideas from the passage (lectio divina) and then having 30 minutes to journal and/ or create in art our responses to the gospel passage and what God is speaking to us about. then we meet back together to share what God said (you only have to share if you want to) and finishing with an experiential element that ties the theme together and then closing in prayer.

Rosh Hashanah started off the Jewish New Year this week, so our theme was centered around this. and the experiential elements involved passing out cups filled with water ...pouring out the old year (pouring out the water in to a large bowl) and taking away our empty cups as a reminder that God is filling our cups in new ways this year ...an empty cup available for God to fill in the New Year. after pouring out the water we dipped an apple slice in to a bowl of honey and ate it as a symbol of receiving the sweetness of the new year. During Rosh Hashanah prayers are prayed beside water whenever possible and the apple and honey are a part of the worship service. Rosh Hashana means we have a clean slate, we get a new start and we all need one of those on a regular basis.

here's a copy of the service order we used:

THINPLACE

This week, we get to start over! a brand new year!! I love new beginnings...What? You thought New Years was Jan.1st? Well Happy Rosh Hashanah It is the Jewish High Holiday celebrating the New Year. Rosh Hashanah celebrates the kingship of almighty God...and celebrates the day of creation and begins ten days of prayers moving towards Yom Kippur...the day of atonement. So Happy New Year…as you begin a New Year in ministry, what does Jesus have in store for you? Are you ready for a clean slate?

When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

'Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Things to consider while journaling or creating in art:

Anyone in your life today that you need to forgive? Anyone you need to ask to forgive you? Tell God about this?

Anything you need to forgive yourself for as the New Year begins, so you can start fresh?

What does it mean to you to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth?

How do you need God to provide for you in this New Year? Talk to God about this.

Do you believe that God really knows your needs? Why or why not? Why is it hard to believe this?

Sharing our stories after journaling

Experiential RESPONSE:

Pour out water…pour out your cup of water into the bowl as a symbol of pouring out the old year and the junk, sin, brokeness of the old year take home your empty cup to recieve what God wants to pour into it this year. To receive the new things God has for you.

Eating the apple and honey. Dip a slice of apple into the honey and accept the Gift of the New Year.

“Welcoming a New Year” poem/prayer by Joyce Rupp (leader prays this aloud )

A new year stands on my doorstep

Ready to enter my life’s journey.

Something in me welcomes this visitor:

The hope of bountiful blessings

The joy of a new beginning

The freshness of unclaimed surprises

Something in me rebuffs this visitor:

The swiftness of the coming

The boldness of the entrance

The challenge of a year’s good-bye.

Something in me fears this visitor:

The unnamed events of future days

The wisdom needed to walk love well

The demands of giving away and growing

A new year stands on my doorstep.

With fragile caution I move

To open the door for its entrance.

My heart leaps with surprise,

Joy jumps in my eyes,

For there beside this brand-new year

Stand my God with outstretched hand!

He smiles and genly asks of me:

Can we walk this year together?

And I, so overwhelmed with goodness,

Can barely whisper my reply:

Welcome in! AMEN

(found on p.25 in Fresh Bread, Ave Maria Press)

CLOSING PRAYER : Pray out loud together

We welcome you Jesus to clean us up and renew our minds.

We ask that you help us to trust in your provision.

We ask you to help us to rest in your love.

We ask that you renew us with your Spirit and fill us to overflowing with your peace and joy. Amen

What about a season of the church year designed to bring you closer to jesus?

Using a lint brush as a prayer tool…

Set up a station with a couple of lint brushes or use as a group prayer response

With lint brushes to pass around.

You can also save lint from your dryer to have as a part of the décor.

( a favorite Lenten prayer practice of mine is to use cleaning the lint trap in the dryer as time to ask God what needs to be cleaned out of my life…putting laundry in the dryer becomes a prayer of confession)

The Lint brush is used as a prayer of confession…

God removes the “lint, “ the junk that is stuck to us…

The sin that so easily entangles us…

As you roll the lint brush over your clothes talk to God

about the Lint, the junk, in your life you need him to remove.

Ask God to show you any lint that is blocking your relationship with him..

as you roll the lint brush on your shirt/ jeans, picture the junk being removed.

And know that God loves you and forgives you.

DESERT STATION

Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness….

Fasting.

Sometimes we think that it was the Enemy, the devil, that drove him into the wilderness…

And sometimes we think that the wilderness itself is bad.

But remember, it was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness…

God was present with Jesus the entire time…he wasn’t alone, he wasn’t’ abandoned.

Jesus fasted for 40 days…that’s a number of testing…

OPTION 1

Sit down

Where are you on your journey today?

Are you feeling lost in the wilderness

Are you feeling dry, hungry, alone?

Are you feeling tempted? Or tested?

Have you felt like life has become filled with temptations?

Talk to Jesus about this….

Allow Jesus to be present with you in the wilderness.

OPTION 2

Sit down and consider what Jesus felt in the wilderness..

READ the story. Picture Jesus there.

What temptations are you facing today?

Talk to God about these.

What are you hungry for in your life? …..

Talk to God about this

Are you tempted by hungers, hunger for power, popularity, wealth, what else?

Talk to God about this and allow Him to talk to you…

WRITE THESE IN THE SAND…then brush them out as you ask for forgiveness.

What are you hungry for in your life? …..The Good things…

Talk to God about these things and feel his love and comfort.

Set up a desert area… lay down a painters tarp …fold up edges to create rim

(looks best if it’s not a square) pour sand on top and spread out to create a layer.

Add a couple of camping stools a few large rocks.

Allow students time to be in the desert…

This station can be very large ..we once created a desert space in the center of our chapel …everyone had to cross the sand to get to their seats and then we had everyone sit on the floor around the sand to focus on and consider Jesus’ time in the wilderness.

BOWL OF SAND….

The Lenten Season is the 40 days before Easter

Where do you want to go in the next few weeks?

What do you want to be like by the time Easter arrives?

How can you choose to fall more in love with Jesus over

The next few weeks?

As you begin your Lenten journey…

wash your hands in the bowl of sand as an act of repentance…

As a reminder of the wilderness where jesus spent his forty days of fasting and prayer.

Talk to God about where you are and where you want to be in the next few weeks before Easter.

Now wash your hands in the bowl of water and allow God to refresh you and allow the Living Water to encourage you as you journey with Jesus during the days before Easter.

YOU ARE CLEAN…YOU ARE LOVED…YOU ARE FORGIVEN

OPTION 2…after washing in the sand and then the water…write down on a cut out or printed out heart…a way that you will choose to fall more in love with jesus during lent, during the weeks before EASTER….

Examples…spending more time in silence

Spending more time reading the bible

Spending more time serving others..

TAKE HOME THE heart and place it where you will see it each day and be reminded to fall in love with Jesus each day.

March 05, 2011

here's your taste of thinplace for this week...sunday is the sunday of the transfiguration and it's always good to reflect on this amazing happening in the life of Jesus and his close friends. every time i listen to the story i learn and see new things...

for me last night , it was about experiencing the glory of king jesus...too often i know and experience jesus as my friend, "my buddy" jesus...but not the KING of KINGS glorified Jesus...

too often i don't take the time to be awestruck by jesus...i don't focus enough on his glory and his position as king...

so this lent (starting next wednesday btw) i am reflecting on how i might engage the wonder and awe of jesus in tangible ways.

i also spent time wondering about the last verse..."don't tell anyone..." i know jesus didn't want peter shooting off his mouth and declaring his messiahship and kingship before the cross, but do you think they really did keep quiet? do you think peter really could ?

and what about the 9 disciples that were left down the mountain...i've always wondered how they felt...i would have felt left out and i know i would have bugged peter for information about what happened up there! ...just some wonderings...

to be honest, i almost didn't use this week's lections because i've "done that story" so many times before...and i hate skipping forward too far in the gospel rather than just doing the next chapter.

turns out i'm so glad the holy spirit is the teacher and not me! had two folks at thinplace last night who heard this passage for the very first time!!!!

i always say in my workshops never to assume that anyone knows the story...and i proved to myself i need to remember that fact myself!!!

got a little carried away with the questions to consider ...really shouldn't be more than 5...just had lots of thoughts

as usual you don't have to journal from any of them if you don't want to...

the TAKE AWAY was a small white light bulb...to put on our desk or kitchen window or by our beds..keep it somewhere where you'll see it each day...to remind us of the light of Jesus...and to remind us that we too carry his light into the world...think also of someone who needs the light of God's love in their lives...and use the light bulb as a reminder to pray for this person in the coming week/month.

and if you have to change a light bulb or buy new light bulbs in the near future...remember to shine your light, the light of God's love to the people around you.

THINPLACE march 3, 2011…

Opening Prayer…

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.